PROPOSITION FOR THE UNION OF THE COLONIES.—ACTIVE MEASURES TAKEN LOOKING TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE.—DELEGATES ELECTED TO CONGRESS.—DESTRUCTION OF TEA AT PROVIDENCE.—TROOPS RAISED.—POSTAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED.—DEPREDATIONS OF THE BRITISH.—“GOD SAVE THE UNITED COLONIES.”

The 22d of June, 1772, was memorable in the history of humanity, for it was on that day that Mansfield solemnly declared as Lord Chief-Justice of England that slavery could not exist on English soil. This declaration met with a hearty response in Rhode Island. On the 17th of May, 1774, the citizens of Providence met in town meeting to take counsel together upon the questions of the day. Two resolves of this meeting stand fitly side by side. An intestate estate comprising six slaves had fallen to the town. In the meeting it was voted that it was “unbecoming the character of freemen to enslave the said negroes, that personal liberty was an essential part of the natural rights of mankind, and that the Assembly should be petitioned to prohibit the further importation of slaves, and to declare that all negroes born in the Colony should be free after a certain age.” In the June session of 1774 the question was brought before the Assembly. “Those” says the preamble, “who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others.”... Therefore, says the bill, “for the future no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this Colony.” To perfect the act clauses were added defining the condition of slaves in transit with their masters, and protecting the Colony against pauper freedmen.

Having taken this high ground concerning the individual, they took ground equally noble concerning the Colony, “resolving that the deputies of this town be requested to use their influence at the approaching session of the General Assembly of this Colony for promoting a Congress, as soon as may be, of the representatives of the general assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North America for establishing the firmest union, and adopting such measures, as to them shall appear the most effectual to answer that important purpose, and to agree upon proper methods for executing the same.” Thus in Rhode Island the condemnation of slavery and the call for union went hand in hand.

The time for hesitation was past. Event came crowding upon event. Virginia, also, called for a Congress. But it was on Boston chiefly that all eyes were fixed. Her example had strengthened the hands of the discontented, and both the King and his Parliament had resolved to make her a warning example of royal indignation. For this the bill closing her port and cutting off her commerce and known in history as the Boston Port Bill was passed. It was to go into operation the 1st of June, 1774. Never did a great wrong awaken a more universal resentment. Old jealousies and rivalries were forgotten in the sense of a common danger. On the 1st of June the voice of mourning and commiseration was heard throughout the land. Virginia set it apart as a day of fasting and prayers. From every Colony came contributions in sheep and oxen and money. Rhode Island sent eight hundred and sixty sheep, thirteen oxen, four hundred and seventeen pounds in money. Boston in this day of suffering was for her no longer the Boston of the Atherton Company and disputed boundary lines.

But intelligent as Rhode Island had proved herself in her political measures, she could not altogether raise herself above the ignorance of her age in sanitary measures. The small-pox was in Newport, and inoculation was still an undecided question. Should the legislature be asked to declare for it or against it? After four days of discussion it was decided in the negative by a close vote.

We have already seen that a special tribunal had been organized to follow up the question of the Gaspee. In its instructions directions were given to send their prisoners to England for trial. Hutchinson, the renegade Governor of Massachusetts, proposed to annul the charter of Rhode Island. The committee applied to Samuel Adams for counsel. “An attack upon the liberties of one colony,” was his answer, “is an attack upon the liberties of all.”

The new year, the eventful 1773, began amid anxious doubts and firm resolves. The Assembly was sitting at East Greenwich, the Gaspee court at Newport. “What shall I do?” asked Chief-Justice Hopkins. The Assembly bade him follow his own judgment. “Then for the purpose of transportation for trial,” said the brave old man, “I will neither apprehend any person by my own order nor suffer any executive officers in the Colony to do it.” The question fortunately never rose, but questions equally important were at hand.

The burning of the Gaspee was a sudden outbreak of popular indignation. To thoughtful minds it was a still more alarming indication of popular feeling that the senior officer on the station, Captain Keeler, of the Mercury, should have been seized and verdicts of trespass and trover found against him in the colonial courts. But England did not heed the warning.

But the great work was done by the Committee of Correspondence, already formed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1764, but more effectively organized in Virginia in 1775—the railroads and telegraphs of those days. They bound the colonies in a union which doubled their strength and fanned their zeal into a flame. Through them the earliest and “most authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament, and measures of the ministry as may relate to or affect the British colonies in America” was obtained, and a correspondence concerning them kept up with the other colonies. In all these preparations for the struggle, now so near at hand, Rhode Island bore her part. And while they were going on, and as if his part had been done, her faithful agent, proved by fourteen years of assiduous service, Joseph Sherwood, died.

In October, 1773, the tea act went into operation, leading the discontent still more directly to action. But as no tea was sent to Rhode Island, and the story is well known I shall not repeat it here, only saying that public meetings were held in all of which it was resolved to confirm the Philadelphia resolutions. Rhode Island had another grievance to complain of.

The story of the Hutchinson letters is well known to every reader of American history. Some unknown friend of the colonies had put them in the hands of Franklin, and Franklin had sent them to America. “Among them was a letter of George Rome, written six years before, denouncing the governments and courts of Rhode Island.” It was immediately published in newspapers and on broadsides, and in every form which could give it circulation. Everywhere it was read with the strongest expressions of condemnation. The author was brought to the bar of the house of deputies, and refusing to plead, sent to jail for the remainder of the session.

Among the acts of revenge which disgrace the English legislation of this period, was the removal of Franklin from the responsible office of superintendent of the American post-office. In his hands the post-office had become a trustworthy institution, paying its way and meeting the wants and commanding the confidence of the country. As a means of communication it had become a bond of union. To suppress it would be a serious blow to the social and commercial relations of all the colonies. The blow fell, but not according to its aim. We have already recorded the name of William Goddard as founder and editor of the Providence Gazette. When Franklin was removed Goddard conceived the idea of a colonial post-office adapted to the new relations between England and the colonies. To secure the concurrence of all the colonies he visited them all, explaining his plans and awakening everywhere that confidence without which all his efforts would have been vain. It was another step towards union.

On the eve of such a contest it was wise to count heads. A census was ordered and gave as its result fifty-nine thousand six hundred and seventy-eight, of whom fifty-four thousand four hundred and thirty-five were whites, three thousand seven hundred and sixty-one blacks, and one thousand four hundred and eighty-two Indians.

Two events of grave significance mark the month of May, 1774. General Gage entered Boston as Governor, and a town meeting was held at Providence wherein it was resolved, “that the deputies of this town be requested to use their influence at the approaching session of the General Assembly of this Colony, for promoting a Congress as soon as may be, of the Representatives of the General Assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North America for establishing the firmest Union, and adopting such measures as to them shall appear the most effectual to answer that important purpose; and to agree upon proper methods for executing the same.”

In the same meeting it was recommended to break off all trade with Great Britain, Ireland, Africa and the West Indies till the Boston Port Bill should be repealed. Everywhere the warmest sympathy with Boston was expressed and effective measures taken to assist her by contributions of provisions and money. East Greenwich was the first to open a subscription for her. The example was promptly followed by Newport, Westerly and other towns in which her name had never awakened kindly feelings before. Some of the poor sought refuge in neighboring colonies, and found work and sympathy. Some Tories, alarmed at the prospect of a siege, removed to Providence, but found it a dangerous residence for men of their political creed. One of these, a hardware dealer named Joseph Simpson, seems to have been particularly obnoxious to the Whigs, who of a Saturday night covered his doors and windows with tar and feathers. A public meeting was called to protest against allowing the town to be made a receptacle of the enemies of the country and request the council to have such persons legally removed. Some indications of disorder appearing, another meeting was called to “insist upon the supremacy of the laws.”

Measures of defence, also, began now to attract the attention of the Assembly. The stores at Fort George were examined. Some thirty years before an independent company had been chartered under the name of the Providence County Artillery. This name was now changed to Cadet Company and the corps formed upon a regimental basis, taking its position field days on the right. The Light Infantry Company, of Providence, was chartered at the same session. It was to consist of a hundred men and be stationed “in front of the left wing of the regiment.” A day of fasting and prayer was appointed and religiously observed. But the most important step of all was the election of Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward for delegates to that Congress towards which all eyes were anxiously directed. Thus Rhode Island had been the first to propose a Congress and the first to take action upon the proposal. In the same session six resolutions were passed “counseling Union and an immediate meeting of Congress to petition for redress, and to devise measures to secure their rights.” And as if they foresaw how entirely government was passing away from the King and Parliament, they recommended also that Congress should meet annually. Copies of these resolves were sent to all the colonies.

On the 5th of September, 1774, Congress met in Philadelphia, and after careful deliberation adopted a Declaration of Rights, and recommended the formation of an “American Association,” the chief articles of which were “non-intercourse with Great Britain till their grievances should be redressed, abolition of the slave trade, encouragement of home industry, and the appointment of committees of inspection in every town and district to see that its terms were kept inviolate.” To these were added “a petition to the King, letters to the other British colonies, addresses to the Canadians and to the people of Great Britain, and votes of thanks to the friends of America in Parliament.” The tone through all was decent, earnest and resolute. As they circulated through the country the people felt that their convictions had been faithfully represented.

In this agitated state of the popular mind a riot was stirred up in Providence by the license question, and in East Greenwich by the Tory question. The first was put down by the citizens, but the second called for the intervention of the military.

The attention of the General Assembly was largely given to measures of defence. The colonial fire-arms at Newport were distributed by counties in proportion to their tax rate. Simeon Potter, of Bristol, was chosen major-general, a new office created for the occasion and subject to annual election. The militia law was carefully revised, and provision made for the “manner in which the forces within this Colony shall march to the assistance of any of our sister colonies if invaded or attacked.” The cannon and powder at Fort George were removed to Providence for greater security and more convenient use. Independent companies were formed and carefully trained. Among the Kentish Guards were Nathanael Greene, the future liberator of the South; Christopher Greene, the future hero of Red Bank; James M. Varnum, a future brigadier, and others whose names reappear in higher grades as the progress of the war brought superior merit to view. In Providence County the militia was divided into three regiments under the command of a brigadier.

Among the recommendations addressed by Congress to the people, was a recommendation to stop the exportation of sheep to the West Indies, for domestic manufactures were growing daily in importance and wool was wanted for colonial looms. The recommendation was promptly acted upon, and a temporary committee of inspection appointed to see it carried out. The manufacture of fire-arms was successfully begun.

In February, 1773, the day for suspending the use of tea came. In Providence three hundred pounds of it were publicly burned, the fire being lighted with ministerial documents and other obnoxious papers. While this was a doing by the “sons of liberty” in Market Square, some other sons of liberty went round from store to store, effacing with lamp-black the word tea on the signs.

In April there was a general muster of the militia, when it was found that Providence County had two thousand infantry and a troop of horse under arms, and Kent County nearly fifteen hundred. The returns of the other counties have not been preserved.

The day of decision came. The battle of Lexington was fought. The tidings reached Providence in the night. By the next day a thousand armed men were on the road to Boston. But before they could reach it expresses met them announcing the retreat Of the British.

The Assembly met. They voted to raise an Army of Observation of fifteen hundred men, in spite of the protests of the Governor, the Deputy-Governor and two assistants. Nathanael Greene and William Bradford were appointed a committee to confer with the Assembly of Connecticut about this raising of arms. The public ammunition was distributed—to each town its proportion. For greater security it was voted to hold the election session of the Assembly at Providence. A day was set apart for fasting and prayer.

The May session for the election of officers came. The dividing line between Whig and Tory was more sharply drawn. Several changes were made in the board of assistants. Deputy-Governor Sessions gave place to Nicholas Cooke. Governor Wanton himself was suspended for having in various ways “manifested his intentions to defeat the good people of these colonies in their present glorious struggle to transmit inviolate to posterity those sacred rights they have received from their ancestors.” A Committee of Safety was appointed, which, with the two highest military officers, was to superintend the paying and furnishing the troops and direct their movements when called out of the Colony. The public offices were removed to Providence.

“The army was formed into one brigade of three regiments, each regiment consisting of eight companies, with a train of artillery.” Of this little army, called Army of Observation, Nathanael Greene, who had never held military rank before, was placed in command with the rank of brigadier-general. To anticipate jealousies of rank and position it was provided that “each regiment should occupy the flanks in rotation.”

Paper money with all its evils now became a necessity, and bills of credit were issued to the amount of twenty thousand pounds. To give them the character of an investment they were to bear an interest of two and a half per cent., and be “redeemable by taxation at the end of two and five years.” An embargo was laid on provisions.

Another battle, the battle of Bunker Hill, was at hand. Collisions between the King’s troops and the people were frequent. By the 1st of June nearly a thousand men of the Rhode Island Army of Observation with their artillery were encamped on Jamaica Plains. The committees of inspection for enforcing the American Association were very active. Articles of war were framed. Tories were jealously watched. The suspension of Governor Wanton was a bold step resolutely persevered in. He attempted to explain and defend his conduct, but his explanations were not accepted.

The persecutions of the Gaspee were renewed by Sir James Wallace, Captain of the Rose frigate, and brought on an action between a tender of the frigate and a colonial sloop commanded by Captain Abraham Whipple. After some sharp firing on both sides, the tender was driven ashore under Conanicut and captured. Wallace already owed Whipple a grudge for his part in the burning of the Gaspee, and wrote him: “You, Abraham Whipple, on the 10th of June, 1772, burned His Majesty’s vessel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you at the yard-arm. James Wallace.” To which Whipple replied: “To Sir James Wallace, Sir: Always catch a man before you hang him. Abraham Whipple.”

This was no longer a sudden uprising of popular indignation against insufferable wrong, but a conflict between two regular armed vessels—the first naval battle of the War of Independence. It led directly to the equipping of two vessels, the Washington and the Katy, for the defence of the Colony—the largest carrying ten four-pounders and fourteen swivels, with a crew of eighty men—the smallest with thirty men.

In this June session in which the foundations of the navy were laid, William Goddard’s postal system went into operation six weeks before its adoption for all the colonies by Congress.

During this same eventful month of June the waters of Narragansett Bay were the scene of another bold enterprise. The Rose frigate, Swan sloop-of-war, and a tender were lying with five prizes in Newport harbor. Other vessels came in sight and the royal squadron set out in pursuit of them, following them up the bay and leaving the five prizes unprotected. No sooner did the people of Newport see the opportunity than they seized it, boarded the prizes and carried them off in triumph. The next event of general interest was the battle of Bunker Hill. An extra session of the Assembly was called. Committees were appointed to take account of the arms and ammunition in the Colony and report it to Congress. Saltpetre and brimstone were sent to the powder mills of New York. Fort George was dismantled. A signal post was established on Tower Hill, and a beacon at Providence, on Prospect Hill. The Colony was put upon a war footing, every man able to bear arms being required to hold himself in readiness for active service. A fourth of the militia were held for minute men and drilled half a day every fortnight. The independent companies were drilled with them. The Army of Observation, which now numbered about seventeen hundred men, was placed under the command of Washington. Everywhere were sights and sounds of war.

The national fast day came, July 20th. From every pulpit, from every family altar, rose fervent prayers for Almighty guidance and protection. For Newport it was a day of terror, for Wallace, enraged at the desertion of some of his men, threatened to bombard the town. Two days he lay in position before it. On the third he sailed away.

Providence harbor was now fortified between Field and Sassafras Points, and a battery of six eighteen-pounders erected on Fox Point. The Beacon was proved and found to shed its light over an area extending from Cambridge to New London and Norwich, and from Newport to Pomfret. All through August the preparations for war continued. The live stock was removed from Block Island and the islands of the bay. The incipient navy was enlarged and the Rhode Island delegates in Congress instructed “to use their whole influence for building at the Continental expense, a fleet of sufficient force for the protection of these colonies, and for employing them in such manner and places as will most effectually annoy our enemies, and contribute to the common defence of these colonies.” This recommendation led to the appointment of a committee of which Governor Hopkins and John Adams were members, and which presently laid the foundation of the Continental Navy.

From time to time there were sudden alarms. Once it was given out that Providence was to be attacked, and the works in the harbor were manned and the troops called out. But Wallace, contenting himself with taking a brig from the West Indies and plundering the shores, retired down the bay. In October he was reinforced, and after holding Newport in suspense bombarded Bristol. Domestic enemies also were to be guarded against. George Rome reappears and is sent to Providence “to be dealt with according to his demerits.” Furnishing supplies to the enemy or holding correspondence with them was made punishable with death and forfeiture. Exception was made in favor of Newport on account of her exposed situation. The sufferings of the poor both in Newport and on the islands were so great that the Assembly found it necessary to come to their assistance, helping some to move away and supplying others with provisions. How business suffered may be seen by the repeal of the statute of limitations. In November Governor Wanton was formally removed from office and Nicholas Cooke elected in his stead. With the burning of the Gaspee the sword was drawn, with the deposition of Governor Wanton the scabbard was thrown away.

Meanwhile new emissions of bills of credit were made and the overwhelming debt overwhelmingly increased. But it was no longer the debt of a single colony but a part of the war debt of all the colonies, and therefore Congress assumed forty-five thousand pounds of it as such. Of this forty-five thousand pounds a hundred and twenty thousand dollars were presently paid. One more battle was fought in Narragansett Bay, and one more day set apart for fasting and prayer.

We have seen that Rhode Island had called for a navy. In November Congress took the subject up, appointed a marine committee and voted to arm and equip four vessels. Esek, brother of the Governor, was put in command of them with the title of commodore. Two hundred and fifty Rhode Islanders followed Arnold through the wilderness, and none of all the invading army bore with greater fortitude the privations of the weary march or fought more gallantly under the walls of Quebec than Christopher Greene, Samuel Ward and Simeon Thayer, all of whom we shall meet again on the ramparts of Red Bank. Over a hundred were sent to Philadelphia under Captain Whipple, to serve in the new navy.

Meanwhile at Newport and on the islands the presence of the British squadron held men in constant alarm. A considerable force was encamped at Middletown, and a constant watch kept up to guard against the secret machinations of the disaffected. Row gallies patrolled the bay and a night guard was established. But in spite of every precaution the trees were cut down on Hope Island, twelve dwelling houses were burned and their occupants plundered on Conanicut, and the live stock carried off wherever a secure landing could be effected. General Lee, who had been sent from Cambridge to direct the fortifying of the island, made his entrance into Newport at the head of eight hundred men, and after imposing upon the suspected a comprehensive oath and giving instructions for the erection of fortifications, returned to the army. To express their sense of his services the Recess Committee voted “that one of the best beds, with the furniture taken from Charles Dudley, be presented to General Lee.”

In the last days of December there was a riot in West Greenwich to prevent the enlistment of minute men. In the middle of January there was some sharp fighting on Prudence Island. In the course of the first day the British, who had come up in twelve vessels, landed two hundred and fifty men, drove off a body of a hundred minute men, burned seven houses and carried away a hundred sheep. Next day reinforcements arrived from Bristol and Warren and the fighting was renewed. This time the victory was with the Americans, and after a battle of three hours the enemy were driven to their ships with a loss of fourteen killed and many wounded. War in one of its worst forms raged at all the most vulnerable points of Narragansett Bay.

And thus the gloomy days went by, slowly but surely bringing nearer and nearer the now inevitable problem of independence. Rhode Island, with her hundred and thirty miles of coast line, her two navigable rivers, and triple passage from the ocean, was in constant exposure. We have seen how she was harassed by Wallace in January, 1776. In February more houses and a windmill were burned and more stock plundered on Prudence, and a descent for plunder made on Point Judith. With this last the names of several persons suspected of being Tories were mixed up, giving the Committee of Safety much to do. Difficulties between the citizens of Newport and the soldiers under General West, encamped on the island, arose in a measure from the same cause. West resigned because men whom he had arrested as Tories had been set at liberty by the Assembly. Among them was Governor Wanton. The first act of the eventful drama closes with the evacuation of Boston, on the 17th of March. For a day it was believed that the British fleet was entering the bay, but the alarm proved false. The American army went to New York, passing through Rhode Island on its march.

While these events, so grievous in the present, so full of a glorious future, were passing, Samuel Ward, who had so nobly represented the highest conscience and culture of Rhode Island in the Continental Congress, was dying of small-pox in Philadelphia—the advanced post of civil heroism. An upright and conscientious man, who had drawn from books and men those lessons which make men wise in judgment and firm in principle and bold in action. Had he lived a few weeks longer his name would have been foremost among the signers. A marble monument was voted him by Congress, “in testimony of the respect due to his memory, and in grateful remembrance of his public services.”

The last Colonial Assembly of Rhode Island met on the 1st of May. On the 4th, two months before the Congressional Declaration of Independence, it solemnly renounced its allegiance to the British crown, no longer closing its session with “God save the King,” but taking in its stead as expressive of their new relations, “God save the United Colonies.”